Chinese Bloggers Mourn Big Yellow Duck Demise

A man takes a photo of a deflated Rubber Duck by Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman at Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor on May 14, 2013. See more photos.

On Wednesday morning, one passionate question united China’s microbloggers: What happened to the big yellow duck?

This month, a 54-foot yellow inflated duck sailed into Victoria Harbor, triggering a jubilant response from tourists and locals and wall-to-wall media coverage, as well as a tidal wave of waterfowl-inspired products. On Wednesday, though, pictures showing the giant duck had evidently melted into a yellow puddle prompted an anguished outcry across social media around the world. “#DEVASTATED,” ran one hashtag on Twitter. “Is @#%! nothing sacred,” another user mourned.

Microbloggers in mainland China, though, seemed particularly affected. By Wednesday noon, the hashtag “Big Yellow Duck” had shot up to the No. 1 position as the most blogged-about topic on Sina Weibo. (The hashtag “Little Yellow Duck,” another term of endearment for the oversize toy, meanwhile occupied the No. 3 position.)